How do they mix the sound during football games?

November 8, 2011 2:30 PM

From my experience, the language along the front lines of a football game is...salty, to put it mildly. Trash talk, insults, plenty of swear words. Yet, during football games on TV, I rarely hear this. Despite all the parabolic mics aimed at the line that let me hear all the grunts and clashes after the snap. Despite the fact that they mix in the quarterback's snap count and audibles - sometimes I can make out individual words and numbers. So how do they keep the good stuff in and the bad stuff out so effectively?
posted by jtajta to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

There are no mics where the salty talk is. This is well designed and thought out.

Every now and then a camera will catch someone [who is far enough away for the editor to miss it] will mouth a salty word.
posted by Murray M at 2:43 PM on November 8, 2011

I think NFL frowns upon that sort of trash talk these days, so maybe players do it in a quieter voice? Note that the things you do hear are very loud: The QB is yelling signals at the top of his lungs, and the sound of pads crashing is very loud as well. Trash talk tends to be something you do one-on-one- most players don't scream taunts at the top of their lungs, "Braveheart" style.

(I know that in NBA games the microphones aimed at the basket will often pick up chatter, and they will often try to drop audio when a bad word is coming (maybe it's on a slight delay?). But sometimes they "miss," with the hilarious result that you'll hear a very load swear word, *then* a second of dropped audio.)
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:46 PM on November 8, 2011

I think we're starting to hear it, as the quality of the mics and tech gets better and better. It's happening more on the field than off. During last night's Bears/Eagles game, I'd swear I heard somebody pointing and screaming "What is that shit? What is that shit?"
posted by 2oh1 at 3:06 PM on November 8, 2011

Oh, and P.S. I heard this in a moment before the ball was snapped. I think it was somebody on the Bears defense pointing to someone on the Eagles offense who moved early, then reset...? Something like that.
posted by 2oh1 at 3:08 PM on November 8, 2011

During last night's Bears/Eagles game, I'd swear I heard somebody pointing and screaming "What is that shit? What is that shit?" I heard this in a moment before the ball was snapped. I think it was somebody on the Bears defense pointing to someone on the Eagles offense who moved early, then reset...? Something like that.

I think, basically, you don't hear the trash talk because the players don't want you to hear it. You heard the thing above because the player wanted the officials to hear it and possibly throw a flag; same with the snap count- it affects the false start call. The players don't want the officials to hear the trash talking on the line; they do want them to hear things that can draw or affect penalty calls.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 3:16 PM on November 8, 2011

"I think, basically, you don't hear the trash talk because the players don't want you to hear it. You heard the thing above because the player wanted the officials to hear it and possibly throw a flag;"

EXACTLY. I should have made that clear. The guy was shouting at the official, trying to point out a foul... which brings me back to my point about technology. There was no sort of mic available years ago that could have caught that.

I've worked in radio, but not TV, so I don't claim to be an expert... but... this is an emerging issue and - at least in some sports - it doesn't seem to have been really addressed yet.
posted by 2oh1 at 4:10 PM on November 8, 2011

I believe that's one of the skills of the parabolic microphone operator. Point it at the play, and then point it away or hit the mute button.
posted by gjc at 5:12 PM on November 8, 2011

This may only be speculation on my part, but I know that a lot of "live" airings are actually delayed by a few (7?-10?) seconds. That way, if something profane does happen to show up on the audio, it can be edited out before it hits your TV set. The Wiki is pretty sparse on details, but I don't think it's inconceivable for sports broadcasters to utilize the technology/technique.
posted by Geppp at 7:39 PM on November 8, 2011

I cannot speak for the Pros, but a good friend's son plays Div I football and he says that the trash talk comes at the end of the play after the tackle before the huddle. At the point when the two teams are lined up and the offense is set or about to be set for the snap, the yelling is mostly the QB on offense with the center calling blocking asignments to his line mates and with the defensive signal caller making adjustments. There will occasionally be a defensive noise put out to try to get the O-line to move early, but there is not a lot of "longest yard" type cursing and calling each other out just before the snap.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:40 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

http://99percentinvisible.org/post/11383184222/episode-38-the-sound-of-sport

Odds are you aren't actually hearing the real sounds of the game itself. Listen to the entirety of this particular episode of this podcast (it's very short, like every episode of it) because it is fascinating.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:12 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I missed that during the Bears game, but if you listen carefully, it's not uncommon to hear things during football games. One thing, though, that keeps it from being so easily heard is how loud crowds can get during games. That, and a lot of the moment before the snap is players concetrating. There is a lot more trash talking after the play is over, especially after particularly hard hits, either from the defensive player taunting the offensive player they laid out, or the offensive player springing up and trying to show that they were utterly unaffected. There's a lot less directional mic work at the end of the play, it seems (or a lot more care taken with the editing, as mentioned, live games are supposedly on a time-delay, since the nipple...).

Basketball games, due to the smaller crowds, the smaller playing field, even the smaller number of players, and fantastic acoustics (and overall, a larger number of shitty home crowds) are probably the best sport for hearing trash talk. Ball, as we all know, don't lie.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:04 AM on November 9, 2011